Leksikaalisten ja syntaktisten nimenosien yleisyydestä ja levinneisyydestä peruskartan paikannimistössä

• Marko Salmenkivi
• Risto Pulkkinen
• Heikki Tuominen

Avainsanat: kieliteknologia, luontonimet, nimenosa, paikannimistö

Abstrakti

The frequency and distribution of lexical and syntactical components in place names in the standard map series of Finland (englanti)

2/2006 (110)

The frequency and distribution of lexical and syntactical components in place names in the standard map series of Finland

The study reported here looks at the lexical components of Finnish place names in the standard map series of Finland (2002), examining the distribution of these components by region and type of location. The distribution of syntactical components is also assessed, looking at the frequency of basic components throughout the entire database and the frequency of modifiers in nature-related names, both by type of location and within the database as a whole. The results are compared with those presented in a study by Eero Kiviniemi (1990).

The study made use of various technical methods to identify the words from which the place names are derived and to return them to their basic form. This proved to be quite successful (errors accounted for only 3 to 4 per cent of the names).

The most common lexemes at the end of place names in the map database were mki hill, suo bog, mire, niemi headland, lampi pond, small lake and lahti bay. In the compilation of names in Kiviniemis name archive the most common was pelto field. The data in the present study contains only a small number of lexemes that are among the most common in a particular region but not nationally (nummi heath, luoma brook, keidas raised bog and krki point). The unique character of the place names in Lapland, on the other hand, ensures that several lexemes feature among the most common nationwide, despite their virtual absence in other parts of the country (vuoma treeless bog, jnk(k) peat-covered area, aapa aapa bog).

The most common lexical components at the start of place names in the study data were the adjectival iso big and pitk long, and the appellative kivi stone, rock, koivu birch and mylly mill. The results are again broadly similar to those of Kiviniemi, but nevertheless differ in many details. When used as modifiers in nature-related names, components such as musta black, raja boundary, limit, sauna, terva tar, hauta grave, ditch, honka old pine tree and karhu bear had a considerably higher ranking than they did in the list of name-initial components.

Many of the initial components in names are, in relative terms, very typical of certain areas, even though their absolute number may not be enough to place them near the top in any region. This is why statistical means were used to establish the occurrence of regional concentrations of these initial components. Differences related to regional variations in the natural environment were particularly prominent in the results.

Marko Salmenkivi, Risto Pulkkinen & Heikki Tuominen